Margaret Graves - Wednesday's shared meals
Wednesday nights at CHBC we gather for a time of fellowship, prayer and study. It is a midweek opportunity to connect with others in the church by sharing a meal, conversation, Bible study, and to participate in discussions about our church ministries and outreach.
For several years the meal offered was prepared by a caterer. Due to the cost of the catered meals to those attending we tried to find an alternative plan for this past year. A group of us committed ourselves to prepare the Fellowship Meal each week for all who showed up. Our working group was made up of Bob and Roxann Hieb, Debbie Brashear, Debbie Williams and me. Nancy Howard and Carolyn Posey offered help with program planning and encouragement. Johnnie Sherwood, Martha Lytle and Judy Frier baked desserts for our enjoyment. The youth and Social Justice teams prepared a couple of the meals using that as an opportunity to raise money for Passport Camp and Choices.
We prepared meals for 75-100 each Wednesday from August to the end of May. That number includes about 30 of the youth who participate in our Wednesday tutoring and youth activities. What a great way to connect with our church family! We planned, shopped, cooked and coordinated the serving of meals each week and by doing so found a way to offer hospitality to those eating with us.
It has been fun finding out people’s likes and dislikes. Because we didn’t repeat menus often, folks were faced with a surprise when they showed up. It is rewarding to nourish friends and family and try to find foods that make people happy. It is amazing the things that can be eaten with rice and hot pepper sauce!
By doing the food preparation ourselves we were able to charge just $5 per person. That made the meal more affordable and hopefully encouraged more to come eat with us. The church budget supports the meal by providing for the cost of the kitchen space, clean up help, and dishwasher.
The working group for this past year is not continuing in the Fall. We are once again trying new ways of providing a meal for our Wednesday night time together. This next year we hope to find some other folks in the church that are willing to commit themselves to preparing the food, maybe for one week a month. Think about it. Is this something you would like to be involved in? Call Margaret Graves at 502 895-0778.
(If you have ideas for a future article, please contact Anne-Britton Arnett at 896-2337.)